In prisons and jails, lack of testing is a big problem

When inmates are released from facilities with known infections, they can spread coronavirus in their homes and communities

• Joseph Darius Jaafari
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  Joseph Darius Jaafari was a staff writer for the PA Post. His work covering crime, the military and LGBTQ issues has been featured in The Marshall Project, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Atlantic and The New York Times. He is a graduate of the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, and an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has produced for VICE and The New York Post. He is a native Arizonan and infamous for his love of tacos.

State and county correctional facilities across the country are some of the places hit hardest by the coronavirus — close quarters, overcrowding and shared services like food trays and showers make it easy for the virus to spread among inmates and correctional officers alike.

In Pennsylvania, that’s no different. Two weeks ago, for example, State Correctional Institution Huntingdon reported 51 cases of coronavirus among prisoners.By last Friday, it had 143.

State facilities — such as SCI Camp Hill and SCI Phoenix, and county jails, including Philadelphia’s and Montgomery’s — report infection rates soaring above the overall numbers for the counties they’re located in.

And that’s without mass testing, which is proving to be the biggest problem facing correctional leaders.

As inmates complete their sentences, post bail or are released on parole, they are not being tested before exiting prison, according to a handful of interviews I conducted over the past month with inmates at county and state prisons. The only testing these men reported was having their temperature checked as they left.

“That makes no sense for people who are asymptomatic,” said one inmate at SCI Phoenix who is expected to be granted parole this Thursday. He asked to remain anonymous for fear he would be denied release if he publicly criticized Department of Corrections testing efforts.

In Lebanon County Correctional Facility, Joe Bauch, who was released two weeks ago after the jail announced its first four cases of COVID-19, said he wasn’t tested for the virus. He said he had asked for one — he interacted with those who came in contact with the inmates who tested positive — but said the jail refused.

“They didn’t do anything,” he said. “I’m walking out of there and possibly infecting my wife or others.”

Officials from the facility did not respond to a request for comment.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections says it’s focusing its testing on symptomatic individuals. But without mass testing, it’s unlikely we know the full scope of the problem inside prisons and jails. All we can do is make a guess based on examples from prisons in other states where tests found a few cases quickly spread to many more.

We know that the state now has the ability to test many more people than in the early days of the outbreak. After all, the Pa. health department is rolling out a mass testing effort covering every nursing home in the state.

So why are inmates with known exposure to the virus not being tested, especially those inmates who are scheduled for release? After all, they will return to their loved ones and communities, potentially spreading the virus as they go about their lives.

Read our story here, and if you have a confidential tip on testing within prisons, send it through our Listening Post here.

Related reporting: 

• Spotlight PA: With thousands of Pa. prisoners in near-solitary confinement, how long can coronavirus lockdown last?

• The New Yorker: Will the Coronavirus Make Us Rethink Mass incarceration?

• The Philadelphia Inquirer: Montgomery County’s jail tested every inmate for COVID-19 — and found 30 times more cases than previously known

• The Appeal: Three Pa. men were recommended or commutations. They’re still in prison.

• Slate: We Have No Idea How Many People in Prison Actually Have COVID-19

• Sentencing Project: Covid-19 in Juvenile Facilities

• If you missed me yesterday on WURD in Philly, I discussed the story we reported last week about a lawsuit in Franklin County Jail where Muslim inmates say they’re being discriminated against during Ramadan. You can read that story here.

Best of the rest

• Conflicting messages: For PA Post, Ben Pontz looks at the conflicting messages some businesses got from the state when they applied for waivers to remain open during the coronavirus lockdowns. As one business owner told Ben, “I would say that, definitely, that the process was opaque. We did not know who to talk to, and who could help us out.” Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette profiles a Monroeville salon owner who believes her industry should be considered essential.

• 49 out of 50: Why is Pennsylvania the only state that’s not letting realtors and others involved in the real estate industry work during the lockdown? It’s a question that came to us from a Context reader. Ben Pontz did some digging to come up with this explainer.

• The pandemic kills kids, too: Once thought to be spared from the effects of COVID-19, previously healthy children are starting to show up in emergency rooms with heart failure and other issues. The symptom’s name is Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, and it’s given scientists added worry in how the coronavirus affects healthy people without underlying conditions. And despite the unknown and researchers’ pleas to keep kids from attending classes, lawmakers are still using children as an opportunity to reopen schools. Related from The Washington Post: The girl who died twice.

• Veteran deaths erased: In Pennsylvania, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says there are 58 deaths in state VA hospitals, many in Chester County. But that number is very likely higher than what’s reported. That’s because those numbers also don’t include deaths of vets who are dying in state-run homes. And across the nation, 28 states are simply not giving data on coronavirus fatalities in their VA hospitals, even as deaths spill over the 1,000 mark. Related from Spotlight PA: State sold nursing home testing plan as ‘universal’ and ‘radical,’ but advocates say it’s optional and insufficient.

• It’s not about you: Getting angry with people not wearing their masks while jogging? Passive-aggressively posting on Facebook or Twitter that people shouldn’t be gathering for dinners or get-to-gethers? Well, the more you shame someone into abiding by the rules, the more likely they are to not follow them. That’s a lesson we learned during public health policies and education dealing with HIV. For The Atlantic, here’s a good run-down on how people should promote safety without asking for someone’s manager.

• Where did $14B in college money go? The congressional stimulus package included $14 billion for universities, which were supposed to allocate the money primarily to students who needed help. But there was very little guidance on how to disburse the money, and even less oversight on tracking it. And to make matters more confusing, two weeks after cehcks were sent, the U.S. Department of Education said only students who qualify for federal aid (read: no foreign or undocumented students) could receive the money. For NPR, a look at what’s happening with all that cash.

• Before you take that pill: President Trump said Monday that he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine for a few weeks, despite the fact that the drug has no proven ability to fight off the virus. A UPMC physician told KDKA that Pennsylvanians shouldn’t imitate the president’s actions, at least not until there’s better science.

Other reads:

• LNP: Pa. Department of Health changes how data on COVID-19 deaths is collected

• Reuters: In Pennsylvania, signs that Trump’s attacks on mail voting could backfire

• MEL Mag: Donated plasma could be liquid gold. Why isn’t anyone getting it?

• The Guardian: US lockdown protests may have spread virus widely, cellphone data suggests

• ProPublica: Substitute Pharmacists Warn Their Co-Workers: We’ll Probably Bring the Virus to You

• USA Today: When a coronavirus vaccine is developed, who will be first in line to get it? A CDC panel usually decides

• PennLive: Pa. school director’s threat to shoot anyone without a mask who comes close to her rankles some in community

• The Philadelphia Inquirer: This Philly cop had the coronavirus and was on a ventilator for 20 days. Now, he’s sharing his story of hope

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